Nothing Permanent About It

The mind - the monkey
Swings from tree to tree
emotion to emotion
desire to desire.

When someone near dies
it decides it will follow
the straight path
not pick up fights
not be bitchy or mean.
It's after all one short life.

And a week later
it is already complaining
about a relative, a friend, a colleague.
It doesn't want to give,
and is ready to grab
though it knows
that death takes away all.

The mind, the monkey
feels overwhelmed with gratitude
when someone extends a help
and thinks that it will never
ever forget that person.

A few years later
it doesn't know why
this person and it
are still 'friends'!
He did help,
it acknowledges with guilt,
but I have more than repaid,
it consoles itself.

The mind, the monkey,
it sways from tree to tree,
thinking this is it,
the final destination,
the ultimate moment of joy.

And yet, in no time,
it is looking
to swing away
discontented and disllusioned
for a greater source of joy.

The mind, the monkey
holds us in its sway.
Though we know
it has to be controlled,
we think just one last time,
let me indulge,
and it can be leashed again.

The mind the monkey
laughs at our feeble efforts
tempting us with fruits
sweeter than this.
And like a fool
we give in
thinking it is we
who control the mind.

On similar lines: The Dilemma